TEN YEARS AFTER: With WrestleMania 32 coming up tomorrow, I thought it might be cool to look at how WWE has changed with ten years of perspective and see if there are any similarities between then and now. Injuries and careers ending changed the game. In 2006, it’s Batista missing WrestleMania and Eddie Guerrero passing away in October. In 2016, it’s Seth Rollins injured and Daniel Bryan whose career was cut short. John Cena is in his first year of being *the man* in WWE and he’s REALLY getting booed by WWE fans right about now. In 2016, Roman Reigns is getting treated even worse by WWE fans than John Cena. Either way, both received big pushes and neither one of them were embraced by the audience. Triple H headlines his fourth WrestleMania here and he’s still being used to help boost the main event players to this day. A McMahon is mixed up in a match that he should have no chance (in hell) of winning. Shane McMahon is here. The Undertaker is still around. In 2006, we’re witnessing the blowoff to the best Divas feud in WWE history. The Divas title match going down this year is comparable to this level of greatness IMO. Just so many comparisons, it almost seems intentional.Read the rest of this entry →

Footnotes:[1]: This is a tournament final.[2]: In June 1975, Victor Rivera announced he was giving up his half of the tag titles; Dominic DeNucci was allowed to choose a new partner, and chose “Irish” Pat Barrett.[3]: The Executioners were stripped of the titles as the result of a match against Chief Jay Strongbow & Billy White Wolf that was televised on October 26, 1976, during which a third masked Executioner interfered.[4]: Chief Jay Strongbow & Billy White Wolf won a three-team tournament, defeating the Executioners and Tor Kamata & Nikolai Volkoff.[5]: This was a tournament final. Shortly after Chief Jay Strongbow & Billy White Wolf won the tag belts, Billy White Wolf suffered a neck injury during a match against Ken Patera; he and Strongbow had to give up the belts.[6]: Bob Backlund & Pedro Morales won the tag titles in a 2/3 falls match. Backlund and Morales had to relinguish the belts since Backlund was the WWF world champion at the time.[7]: This was a tournament final.[8]: At Survivor Series, Diesel and Shawn Michaels were forced to abandon the tag titles when they could no longer function as a team.[9]: This was a tournament final.[10]: Davey Boy Smith subbed for Owen Hart the night before at the In Your House PPV. Because Owen ran down to the ring to interfere and was pinned by Diesel, the belts were returned to Owen Hart and Yokozuna.[11]: The titles became vacant when Billy Gunn suffered a neck injury.[12]: This was a tournament final.[13]: This was a tournament final to fill the vacancy created when Shawn Michaels walked out of the WWF for a brief period. After Austin’s neck injury at SummerSlam, the tag titles became once again vacant.[14]: This match also included the Legion of Doom and the Godwinns.[15]: This was a four-team match which also included The Rock & D’Lo Brown and the New Age Outlaws.[16]: Mankind chose to defend the tag titles on his own when Kane refused to team with him.[17]: This was a three-on-two handicap match also involving the Hardys’ manager, Michael PS Hayes. Bradshaw & Faarooq won when Bradshaw pinned Hayes.[18]: This was a “Dark Side Rules” match in which Viscera, Big Show, and Mideon were the actual opponents for the Rock & Mankind.[19]: Because he was not getting along with the Rock at the time this match was held, Mankind refused to participate and instead sat outside the ring with his back to the action.[20]: This was a triangle ladder match which also included the Hardy Boyz.[21]: This was a four-way elimination match which also included the Hardy Boyz and Test & Albert.[22]: Since Edge & Christian were banned from wrestling the Hardy Boyz for the tag titles, they dressed up as Los Conquistadores.[23]: This was a four-way elimination match which also included the Dudley Boyz and Road Dogg & K-Kwik.[24]: Kurt Angle was the special guest referee.[25]: This was a TLC match which also included the Hardy Boyz.[26]: This was a cage match to unify the WWF and WCW world tag titles.[27]: This was a four-way elimination match which also involved the Dudley Boyz and William Regal & Lance Storm.[28]: When William Regal became injured, Chief Morley took Regal’s place as half of the tag team champions. This match also included the Dudley Boyz.[29]: This was a handicap tables match, in which Rob Conway teamed with La Resistance.[30]: This was a three-way elimination match which also involved Rhyno & Tajiri.[31]: Jonathan Coachman replaced Eugene in this match due to an injury.[32]: This was a ten-team battle royal that the Hardy Boyz won to regain the tag titles.[33]: Cody Rhodes was revealed as Ted DiBiase’s mystery partner and turned on Hardcore Holly, resulting in a handicap match.